Dream Date
by Micro Magic
Summary: This is a short story where Derek takes Kylie out on a "dream date". With his imagination, it's meant to rock her world.


**DREAM DATE**

_**I do not own any of the characters of Shadow Falls.**_

* * *

Derek walked Kylie back to her cabin after dinner. For some reason, their sweetness seemed to have gotten everyone's notice. Even Della gave them the "you're-so-sweet-I'm-gonna-hurl" look.

Of course, they'd been out on two dates so far. But that didn't stop Kylie from hoping for a third. Or liking the idea of being close to him.

She had only one step on the porch when she turned around to face him.

"Thanks for the walk," she said lamely, then closed her eyes in embarrassment. Perhaps she should've considered her words before saying them.

"You're welcome," he said.

Obviously he'd decided to let her off the hook; he'd been teasing her a little too much lately. Yesterday, he teased her about learning to cast a hair-trimming spell with Miranda and Francoise that wound up changing their hair colors to black. It took three tries before she got the reversal spell right, and half as much time before word spread to his ears.

"Hey," Derek said with a nervous voice. "Are you free tonight?"

She wasn't sure where he was getting at.

He tucked his hands into his new pair of jeans. Perry and Chris bought him a new pair after his old ones were torn apart from their hike the other day.

He looked nervously at her.

"What is it?" she asked. Too bad she was vampire tonight; as a fae, she could perceive his feelings much more easily. As of now, all she could do was listen to his heartbeat and guess.

He didn't speak for a long minute.

"I'm hoping you'll be free for a date tonight," he finally said, but his voice still sounded nervous.

Kylie laughed.

"We've been on two dates already, and you're nervous about asking me out for a third?"

He chuckled. "That sounds kinda lame, huh?"

She nodded. "Pretty much." Then she added, "But I like it. And to answer your question, yes, I would love to go on a date with you."

"Actually, I'm having doubts because it's not exactly a date." Pause. "It's more like a _dream_ date."

At first, she had no clue where he was getting at. Then she finally did.

"Oh."

He nodded slowly, his lips pursed. Whether he was nervous or teasing, she wasn't sure. But she knew her answer. And apparently so did he, because he gleamed before she spoke.

"Yes." That word pounded in her head.

His radiation showed more obviously. Then, to seal the deal, she leaned up and kissed him.

When she realized they'd been kissing for too long, she pulled away, though she still craved more. Derek opened his eyes and showed the same craving.

"I'll see you in your dreams," he said, then turned about. She watched him walk away, and loved the view of his body. He slowed down as if letting her admire him for a minute longer.

She chuckled and said, "Go."

* * *

Laying in her bed later that night, Kylie counted the sheeps to fifty before her eyes grew heavy. Her body felt slightly numb and her mind started to slip.

When she opened her sleepy eyes, Derek was standing over her.

"What're you looking at?" she asked.

"My girlfriend," he answered with a huge smile across his face.

She sat up on her bed, wiped her sleepy eyes and yawned before she realized where they were.

"We're at the creek?" She looked around.

"I figured we could start off our dream date this way," he admitted and stretched out his hand.

To most people, a dream date meant being with the guy that you loved and having the best of times you could ever have. But now, that definition seemed to have found a new meaning.

She took his hand and rose from the bed. Their lips were now only inches away. Being this close to him sent his woodsy scent into her nose again. She loved how he smelled. Natural.

"So, what's your plan for our date?" she finally asked.

His lips curled up to show his glimmering teeth. Then he looked up and concentrated.

Suddenly the clear blue sky turned gentle yellow and rained tiny red and pink hearts. The scenery was more mesmerizing than she could comprehend.

One of the hearts landed right in her hand.

"Cool," she muttered.

"You like it?" Derek asked.

She looked up at him with a grin.

"How did you come up with something like this?" Kylie asked.

He twitched his eyebrows as if teasing her. "Oh, I learned some tricks for tonight."

He held out his hand in invitation. "May I have this dance?"

She took it without consideration.

The creek and the red sky dissolved. Even the earth beneath them disappeared. For a flicker of a second, Kylie was startled by the logic of gravity, but then remembered she was in a dream. And in dreams, logic worked differently. Where they were now was a blackness with thin clouds floating below and a veil of bright, glittering stars floating above. Up front, several miles from where they were standing, was a beautiful, elegant tower-like castle. The supposed ground below was replaced with collective clouds.

The color, the design, it was exactly something that shouldn't exist in reality. It was also exactly the kind that existed in movies and fairytales.

"Oh, my God," Kylie squealed uncontrollably. "This is so beautiful."

"Glad you like it," Derek commented.

Hearing Derek's voice sent her attention on a U-turn. When she faced him again, he had a red bowtie hung loosely around his neck, and a black suit that fit his frame. He wore his hair back with gelé. For a second, he was almost unrecognizable.

"Are you trying to impress me?" Kylie blurted out.

"Is it working?" he asked.

She grinned, then looked down on her feet. She was still wearing the same pink top and bed pants.

"Don't I get an outfit?" she asked.

"I wanted your permission first. Not sure if you'll like what I have in mind."

She made a teasing look. "Is it sassy?"

He shook his head, then added, "Do you want sassy?"

"No," she said with a scrunching face.

They laughed.

Then Derek held up one finger and concentrated. As he did, Kylie looked down and found herself in a long white silk gown. It stretched all the way to her toes.

"Take a look," Derek said and waved.

A human-sized mirror appeared in front of Kylie, giving her full view of her new look. The dress was designed in detailed elegance and flawless patterns. Her hair tied together in a long braid. Her earlobes hung a set of loose pearl earrings. Her right wrist had a silvery bracelet.

Kylie found herself not only admiring her new look, but also embracing it. That's when she saw Derek standing behind her. She turned away from the mirror to face him again.

"Did you steal this out of a magazine or something?" she asked.

He shrugged and said, "Maybe. Except for the crystal slippers."

Crystal slippers? She lifted her gown to looked on her feet. Oh, my God, he really gave her crystal slippers.

She looked at him again.

"You considered it would be copyright infringement to use glass slippers, didn't you?" she teased.

Derek widened his grin, but he didn't answer her question. Instead he took a step back and held out his hand. "May I have this honor?"

Kylie chuckled and took his hand, and he swung her into his arms.

She noticed how the environment changed while they danced. The stars fell from the sky and started raining down on them like a million fireflies. The way she noticed the change was just like in the real world. Derek just needed to be close to her to make the world seem enchanting. Even in the dream, she could notice such things.

"Am I really that magical to you?" Derek asked, obviously noticing her entranced emotions.

She lifted on her toes and kissed him. The warmth of his lips, even in her dreams, sent a flushing sensation coursing through her body. So real. So strong. The kind of kiss that could make anyone fall on their knees.

When she pulled away, they were both breathing hard.

Then, she noticed the dream's change: the stars continued to fall and glow, but they were no longer standing on a cloud. Instead, they were sitting on a twin-sized wooden swing with green vines wrapped around two thick ropes. She followed her glance to see what supported the swing.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "This is exactly like a movie." She faced Derek again. "We're sitting on a swing under the _moon_?"

"You can do anything in yours dreams as long as you learn how to control them," he said proudly. "Of course, the moon thing wasn't my idea." He touched her chin and traced her lips with his thumb. "When you kissed me, you sort of implanted it in my head."

She laughed. Then, knowing she wanted to enjoy the moment, she clutched his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. He rested his head on top of hers.

"It wasn't even like that before," he continued. "You're the first girl I've ever done it with."

She giggled. "Well, I'm glad."

"I actually wanted to do this for our first date. But... it occured to me that it wouldn't be an official date. Since we'll both be sleeping and all."

Silence reigned. They enjoyed the silence and the view.

"Kylie," Derek finally spoke.

"Yeah?"

"As comfortable and romantic as it is right now, what do you say we go on a little adventure?" Derek finally spoke.

A little adventure sounded nice.

"Sure," she said.

He held her hand, and together, they flew away from the swing. Derek stretched out with his other arm and Kylie did the same.

Cool, she thought, but did not say it out loud. Saying it out loud would've ruined the moment.

In a matter of seconds, they were flying across what looked like a bridge of flourescent stars and glowing clouds.

Kylie smiled widely. Being with Derek had really made everything indescribably magical.

After they crossed the bridge, the starry sky dissolved and disappeared and they started descending. She didn't ask where they were going. Wherever they were going, it seemed like Derek had it all planned.

A wide blue ocean appeared beneath them. Weirdly enough, it was as alive as the real one.

"Get ready," Derek said to her.

"For what?" she asked.

He looked at her, but did not answer. Once they reached the watery surface, Kylie automatically held her breath and shut her eyes. When she opened them again, Derek's suit was gone and replaced by an aqua blue fishtail likeness to that of a dolphin from his waist down. A dorsal fin was attached to his back. But from his waist up was nothing more than the body of a guy with six packs of good-looking abs and a masculine chest.

"Maybe you should look at yourself," Derek said through the water. Oddly enough, she understood him perfectly.

_Can we talk underwater? Can we _hear_ each other underwater?_ Kylie thought. Then again, they were in a dream. Logic and fantasy didn't fit together.

She looked down on herself, and gasped mentally. Her white elegant dress was replaced by a long white dolphin tail. It would've been embarrassing to be mermaid if she hadn't worn a white bra across her chest.

She looked at him again.

"A beluga tail?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It looks good on you." Then he pulled her hand. "C'mon, let's go for a swim."

And they did. They swam across the dream ocean for what felt like forever. Kylie was utterly amazed at how he'd managed to dream up so much. Obviously he'd done some homework, because the ocean looked as alive as it gets in the real world: Occasionally, they encountered dolphins, whales and even pods of glimmering fishes. Even the waves and sunlight and the sunken ships seemed as real as they got.

Derek guided her to a humongous coral reef. Corals. Hundreds of them. Each with their own colors. After swimming across a hill of corals, Kylie saw what looked like a van-sized shell in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by colorful corals.

Being with Derek had truly made life magical for her.

She was so entranced by his presence that she didn't notice when he inched closer to her until their shoulders touched. She loved it, too. It didn't even matter if she loved it too much.

Derek held his hand in front of Kylie and a baseball-sized pearl appeared. The way it glowed screamed magic. The kind that though their world had, didn't show as often as the dangerous kind.

And for this reason, she was grateful to have found him.

She looked away from the glowing pearl to Derek.

"I love you," she said honestly.

"I love you, too," he said back.

They inched closer, closer still, until their lips touched. They didn't stop until Derek pulled away abruptly. His expression was a bit weary.

"What's wrong?" Kylie asked.

Then she noticed how the underwater environment began to shift. Not change, but shimmer. The light above and the living corals disappeared.

Derek grunted.

"Chris is waking me up," he finally said. "Looks like the dream date's coming to an end."

As much as she didn't want to, she knew it was necessary. They couldn't stay in this nirvana forever, even if they wanted to. Dreaming was for night. When dawn came, you had to wake up and face a new day. New challenges, new imperfections.

But she wasn't afraid of that.

She placed a quick kiss on his lips, and said, "It was a perfect dream date."

He smiled. "I'll see you at breakfast."

* * *

Kylie opened her eyes and found herself staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. Her feline pet, Socks Jr, dipped his nose to her cheek and meowed.

"Good morning, Socks," Kylie said cheerfully.

Time for another day.

THE END


End file.
